Guest Review: Patriots, Surviving the Coming Collapse

This is a review of "Patriots, Surviving the Coming Collapse" by James Wesley, Rawles

     If you like this review, please check out some of the others at  New Dawn Survival.

     The copy that I have is the third edition.  Some of my observations may not apply if the book has been revised in later printings.

     Overall, I liked the book.  It showed different possibilities and choices that have to be made in such a future collapse.

     One of my favorite parts of the book, was the encounters with the traveling groups of refugees.   It was interesting to see how these groups were handled by the main characters.

     The barter fair was another favorite part.  Pretty much turns out that the barter items were things survivalists (now a days) are well aware of.  A challenge for every survivalist "expert"  is to find the unknown items that will have immense value during a collapse.

     The thing I did not like about the book was that the author put too many sub stories into too small of a book (only 383 pages).  There was the pre-collapse, different phases of transitioning to self  sustaining,  re-building a community,  raider encounter, U.N. invasion, fight for freedom.  Also included were character sub plots, taking place years before the collapse.  Too many things in too small of a book.

     OK.  That's the general review, now let's get to the nit picking:

1. Page 15, fourth paragraph "This they could not do, however,because depositors were still flocking to the banks to withdraw all of their savings".  Comments: (For the benefit of readers that have not read the book, the basis of the collapse is runaway hyperinflation).  Come now, Mr Rawles, you have stated that Gary North is your mentor and hero.  At the least, you should be a subscriber to his web site.  First of all withdrawing money is deflationary, it reduces the money multiplier effect.  Second, and much more importantly, why in the world would people stand in line to withdraw their money during a hyper-inflationary collapse?  All they have to do is write a check to buy whatever things they have decided will work, to preserve some of the value of their money.
2. Page 106, 3rd paragraph "They left the frozen bodies up for five weeks before cutting them down and burying them beneath the garden plot".  Comments:  A real survival expert would know that if the bodies were frozen, then so was the ground!  Idaho, depending on location has a frost line depth of 24 to 36 inches.  So, now my question is...did these super survivalists in the story, (who have been preparing for years and years) crank up one of their bobcats to bury the bodies or make a big bonfire to thaw out the ground?  Either way would not be very tactical.
3. Page 106, 4th and 5th paragraphs.  After stopping and searching two passersby, they discover them to be cannibals, which they then shoot dead.  They decide that the cannibal's possessions do not belong to them (to the shooters), they take a vote and decide to donate it to charity after order is restored.  Comment: Seems to me that there are going to be lots of people dieing during the collapse that would need a little charity before they ended up dead.  It's not like the main characters had to go out and find needy people.  They wandered by frequently.
4. Page 115, 2nd paragraph "The next upgrade for the retreat was the construction of  "spider holes" for ambush positions by the side of the county road".  Italics and bold are mine.  Comment:  What right did these people have to ambush, stop, or search those traveling on a public road?

     Again, over all a book worth reading.  Latest printing is currently selling at Amazon for about $10.

     Please visit New Dawn Survival.

     Thank you Andrew for posting this at your website.